Movie Reviews

Puccini-Tosca

12/28/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Although Marton was wonderful as usual, her dynamic voice could not make up for the sound quality. There were points when the orchestra overwhelmed the artist. I suspect this was recorded as a "whole" versus miking the individual artists. I was reminded of home movies."

Marton really 'sells' jealousy.

P. J. G. | Altoona, PA United States | 03/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have seen 4 versions of Tosca, and this is the first one that left me a favorable impression of the title charachter. In the 3 other versions I saw, including one at the Met, the Toscas came off as cranky naggers, not passionate lovers. I saw Marton in the Met's Turandot, and found her rather stiff. But, here in Sydney, her body language comes alive, and you will instantly feel the intense jealousy that Tosca has for her lover. Until now, I mostly liked only the two famous arias by Cavardossi. Now,I finally know why this opera has enjoyed worldwide appeal for so many years. Brava, Eva Marton."

"If you are only interested in Eva Marton, then this production is great-for she is one of the great dramatic sopranos of our time. However, there are other characters and other voices in this opera that require consideration. This Scarpia is very good indeed, with a fine vocal instrument which he uses to full effect. Unfortunately, he looked like he was walking around the entire time with his eyes closed-which was a bit distracting. Furlan, as Mario, was badly miscast. This voice knows only loud and louder. There were noticeable vocal problems and musicianship was questionable at best. There was one very bad instance in the first act in which he was totally out of sinc with the orchestra. This is not what one expects from someone sharing the stage with Eva Marton. His acting was clumsy, especially in the 1st act, where he didn't seem to know what to do with his hands and arms. Overall the production was good, but what made it good was mainly Ms. Marton. That, however, was not enough for me to rate this version very highly. There are many other renditions with a uniformly strong cast."